Description
Book SynopsisWhy have American policies failed to reduce the racial inequalities still pervasive throughout the nation? Has President Barack Obama defined new political approaches to race that might spur unity and progress? This title examines deals with these questions.
Trade ReviewOne of Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles for 2012 "[King and Smith] accurately survey the history and the evolution of American thinking on race."--Richard D. Kahlenberg, New Republic "Still a House Divided is quite an achievement... This is an outstanding work."--Choice "Essential reading for scholars of race, politics and policy. It provides a rich and textured analysis that is accessible and theoretically driven... The individual sections are master classes in each policy era and will help guide individual scholars with interests in those eras. With that, the book is an instant classic by two scholars who routinely produce work of this quality."--Mark Sawyer, Ethnic and Racial Studies "Hopefully, there will be an intellectually synergistic effect from the publication of Still a House Divided. As American politics scholars in these camps move forward, they might be able to see some working in the middle and refine their scholarship."--Katherine Tate, Political Science Quarterly "Presenting a powerful account of American political alliances and their contending racial agendas, Still a House Divided sheds light on a policy path vital to the country's future."--World Book Industry
Table of ContentsList of Figures and Tables vii Acknowledgments ix PART ONE: Obama's Inheritance CHAPTER 1 That They May All Be One America as a House Divided 3 PART TWO: The Making and Unmaking of Racial Hierarchies CHAPTER 2 "That is the last speech he will ever make" The Antebellum Racial Alliances 35 CHAPTER 3 "We of the North were thoroughly wrong" How Racial Alliances Mobilized Ideas and Law 62 PART THREE: The Trajectory of Racial Alliances CHAPTER 4 "This backdrop of entrenched inequality" Affirmative Action in Work 93 CHAPTER 5 To "affi rmatively further fair housing" Enduring Racial Inequalities in American Homes and Mortgages 137 CHAPTER 6 "To Elect One of Their Own" Racial Alliances and Majority-Minority Districts 168 CHAPTER 7 "Our goal is to have one classification-American" Vouchers for Schools and the Multiracial Census 192 CHAPTER 8 "We can take the people out of the slums, but we cannot take the slums out of the people" How Today's Racial Alliances Shape Laws on Crime and Immigration 215 PART FOUR: America's Inheritance CHAPTER 9 Prospects of the House Divided 253 Notes 293 Index 349